Saturday, May 3, 2008

Misquoting Jesus

I have yet to pick up the by now well-known book, Misquoting Jesus. When it was first published, I wanted a copy, but only expensive hardbacks were available, and I had no desire to spend that much money on a book of which contents I already could judge from reading other similiar books. Bart D. Ehrman has joined the ranks with other Biblical and early Christian scholar (Crossan, Pagels, Funk, Spong, etc.) whose works are popularized through outlets such as Borders and Barnes and Noble.

I suppose I do not have much more to write on the subject. I find it interesting, even tragic, that books of this ilk dominate the market in bookstores, and yet are by far the minority opinion of scholars. A few years ago, I read the book Hidden Gospels by the esteemed historian Philip Jenkins. The book helped clarify the issues in Biblical scholarship today and the various fallacies of the "Jesus Seminar"-minded scholars. Shortly thereafter, I also read Luke Timothy Johnson's The Real Jesus, which was very informative as well. Jenkins looks at the issue from a historical perspective. Johnson takes on the issue from the perspective of a theologian although he certainly incorporates history.

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